Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.

  • Released: 2022-05-04
  • Runtime: 126 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
  • Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Adam Hugill, Bruce Campbell, Patrick Stewart, Julia Piaton, Topo Wresniwiro, Ashley Olsen, Julian Hilliard, Jett Klyne, Mark Anthony Brighton, Patrick Stewart, Hayley Atwell, Lashana Lynch, Keenan Moore, John Krasinski, Anson Mount, Sheila Atim, John Krasinski, Charlize Theron, Ross Marquand, Andy Bale, Ako Mitchell, Momo Yeung, Daniel Swain, Eden Nathenson, Vinny Moli, Charlie Norton, Aliyah Camacho, Ruth Livier, Chess Lopez, David Tse, Yasmin Chadwick, Anthony Knight, Nuakai Aru, Victoria Grove, Joshua Peace, Nina Jalava, Joshmaine Joseph, Yenifer Molina, Kevin Dalton, Orphee Sidibe, Gregory Fung, Cecilia Appiah, Victoria Sterling, Jordan Alexandra, Bobbie Little, Gabriella Cooper-Parsons, AndrĂ© Layne, Michael Waldron, Bridget Hoffman, Scott Spiegel, Jessica Pennington, Andrew Morgado, Audrey Wasilewski, Christian Rummel, Richie Palmer
  • Director: Sam Raimi
 Comments
  • dalyons-09311 - 8 January 2023
    Great Visuals With Poor Character Planning
    I usually don't like doing spoiler reviews, but you can't talk about this one without talking about Wanda. The first Doctor Strange is one of my favorite MCU entries, so I was really excited for this one. To some extent, it did not disappoint, with the music and visuals being quite strong, though it's a bit disappointing that the most "madness" they could think of was that red means go. Unfortunately, whereas the first Doctor Strange told a great story about an arrogant man realizing that, even as a superhero, he doesn't have to be the hero, this movie gets pretty much every character arc wrong and, as a result, completely botches the ending. As a brief aside, the Illuminati is an issue. Spider-Man: No Way Home made as much money as it did not because it included Garfield and Maguire, but because in wove them into the story and made their inclusion meaningful. Not only is their wisdom useful for Holland's Peter to learn how to grow, but by being in the movie they get to advance their own character arcs, with Garfield in particular earning a redemption. Clearly the MCU's interpretation of that was "more cameos good" because Multiverse of Madness contains a variety of pointless cameos that have little significance. Patrick Stewart's Professor X is one of the most beloved movie characters ever, so underusing him is a crime. The other characters are less of an issue but still annoying. Their inclusion is a tease rather than satisfying fan service. The first character issue is Wong. Wong was comic relief in the first movie, and when he was Sorcerer Supreme in No Way Home, it was kind of funny but kind of weird. She-Hulk cements his status as comic relief. He's nowhere near supreme level. Still, in No Way Home he was shown to be the responsible one. In Multiverse of Madness, he's completely useless, so why anyone wouldn't instantly promote Steven is beyond me. From a movie perspective, that makes sense. It's a Doctor Strange movie, not a Wong movie. But from a character perspective, it turns this whole sorcerer thing into a joke, which it really shouldn't be. The intrigue of the mystic arts in the first movie was a big part of what made it good, so making it stupid is a bad idea. Steven and Christine have no real character progression. It's just a bunch of people asking him if he's happy. Christine's comment about him needing to be the one with the knife is ridiculous considering what he did in the whole Dormammu sequence. The biggest issue, though, is Wanda. After WandaVision 4, I was so excited because the prospect of them taking Wanda and making her a villain was so interesting. Spending multiple movies with someone on the light side and then slowly turning them to the dark side is exactly the kind of bold move that Phase 4 needs. But instead, the MCU is trying to make Wanda sympathetic and good, trying to convince us that she's redeemed herself or something. I don't respect that lack of commitment. It's, as Breaking Bad would say, a half measure. WandaVision basically starts with Wanda's grief overcoming her, and in her corrupted attempts to be happy, she enslaves a town. By the end of the series, she learns that what she did was wrong, accepts her loss, and moves on. That works. I don't love WandaVision, but it works. What doesn't work is then immediately having her be the villain again in Multiverse of Madness, with her grief and anger once again making her evil. What was the point of WandaVision? They've rendered an entire Disney+ show useless. That flip flopping is not believable. Don't give her a redemption arc if she's not going to be redeemed. I actually think Multiverse of Madness before WandaVision would've worked, but more on that in a bit. With Wanda, it's like they did the stages of grief in reverse. She starts in depression, then goes back to denial with Westview, then goes to acceptance by the end, and finally goes back to anger and bargaining with Multiverse of Madness. It's so weird and doesn't make any sense. The planning with Wanda's character arc was not nearly as meticulously crafted as Tony Stark's. The last character they screwed up is Chavez. For starters, she's completely forgettable. I don't know if she's going to be in any future movies, but she's not very interesting. She's just kind of there. Now for the ending of the movie...it's lazy. For starters, the answer is for Chavez to believe in herself. Really? They couldn't come up with anything more creative? But more importantly, halfway through the movie, Wong tells Wanda that the kids have their own mother taking care of them, and that she should be satisfied with that. She says no. Then the ending of the movie? She stops because she becomes satisfied with the fact that they'll have their own mother taking care of them. What? She just said no to that! Even the movie thinks its ending is stupid. It makes no sense. Again, they were so focused on Wanda redeeming herself (again) that they weren't considering what made sense for the character.

    I don't love to do this, but for this movie, I'm going to rewrite the ending to something I think works a lot better to illustrate why I have so many issues with it. Here's what should happen. Vision dies in Infinity War/Endgame. Wanda sees the body and gets angry and grief-stricken, as she does in WandaVision. But then, rather than Westview, she wants to bring Vision back from another universe. Cue Multiverse of Madness, but just with her husband instead of her kids. Really no different (and in fact can I reiterate how stupid it is that she wants her fake kids back but not Vision...). And then at the end, rather than telling Chavez to believe in herself, what does he do? When Chavez says it's okay and that he can kill her because she knows there's no other way, he does it. Why? Because that's what Doctor Strange does. This is the guy who sacrificed half the universe for five years to beat Thanos. His whole arc in the first movie is about how winning isn't always about being a hero. He is basically the one person in the MCU who can put ego and compassion aside to do what is necessary. Killing Chavez to stop Wanda from destroying the multiverse is the ultimate Doctor Strange move. So Wanda doesn't redeem herself, but she loses. This would be bold, with a movie ending not with a victory but with a sacrifice. And a sacrifice not to beat the villain, but to delay them. This would be the kind of unconventional storytelling that Phase 4 has been trying to do that worked so well in Infinity War. So Wanda escapes, and what does she do next? She goes into isolation. If she can't have the real Vision, she'll settle for an imaginary one. Cue Westview. Then WandaVision continues as normal until she finally accepts that she needs to move on, redeeming herself if they so choose. This is similar to Anakin's character arc. She starts good, and then loss turns her to the dark side before she is eventually redeemed. For this you would need no Agatha since Wanda needs to be responsible for her choices. She is the bad guy here. Not only does this create a cohesive character arc for Wanda, but now the stages of grief work. She initially denies that she has lost Vision, and, in her anger, attempts to bargain and get him from another universe. When she fails, she goes into depression before eventually accepting her loss.
  • livratesthings - 30 December 2022
    way too much madness, not enough multiverse.
    This movie could have been way better if they had taken time out of this 2 hour + long movie to explore the multiverse a bit more. We got some glimpses of some dimensions that we've been looking forward to seeing, but they only ever stayed glimpses.

    We only spend a fraction of time in the multiple dimensions and I don't like how Americas powers just started working because all she had to do was believe in herself... really marvel?

    I liked Wanda's story, but I was surprised that her threat wasn't taken that seriously. She took down the alternate avengers who beat Thanos in less than 15 minutes!